The Hongcouver | Is Vancouver really an ‘insular, little village’? So says its most powerful real estate developer
- In contrast to his churlish assessment of Vancouver, Westbank’s Ian Gillespie has ridden the wave of internationalism and foreign money that defines the city
When I met Ian Gillespie a few years ago, he gave me a book of his thoughts and reflections on a career that has made him Vancouver’s most prominent and polarising real estate developer.
It weighs 2.8 kilograms (6.2lb).
The dashing founder and boss of Westbank Corp is not a man overburdened by self-doubt.
Long regarded as one of the city’s most powerful people, Gillespie has been downright ubiquitous this past month, dominating discussions about art, affordability and city-building.
The first furore hit the fan a couple weeks ago. More precisely, it splattered against the newly installed 3.4 tonne kinetic sculpture called Spinning Chandelier, which is and does exactly what the name suggests, suspended under the Granville Bridge.
Commissioned and paid for by Westbank, the giant C$4.8million (US$3.6 million) light fixture by artist Rodney Graham was hailed by Mayor Kennedy Stewart as the city’s “most important piece of public art”.
